Medical expert of the article
New publications
Treating the calcaneal spur folk remedies
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
The problem of the heel spur is far from new and for many decades of acquaintance with it, folk medicine has developed many recipes to fight the disease. It should be understood that in itself a small bone growth on the heel does not pose a danger to life. But it brings great physical torment, to endure which means to condemn yourself to a life full of suffering.
But is it worth to endure torment, to limit oneself in movement, provoking various violations in the work of the organism, if inflammation and pain can be stopped within a couple of weeks by means of many pharmaceutical products, most of which must be applied externally without fear for the health of the digestive tract and kidneys ? And even if a person does not trust doctors or does not have the opportunity to purchase expensive effective medicines, one can always dig into the bins of traditional medicine and find a suitable recipe for heel spur treatment with harmless natural remedies.
However, when choosing effective national recipes from the set of newspapers and magazines offered on the Internet, one should always think about whether such treatment will bring harm. Some prescriptions for treating the heel spur differ in unusual cruelty to themselves (for example, the proposal to pound the scalp at the point of formation of the build-up with a rolling pin, so that the bone crumbles into small parts), although their result remains controversial. We would not experience such recipes, therefore we will not describe them in detail.
But there are many useful recipes that solve the problem safely and practically painlessly, and such recipes and methods should be considered. Although before you apply them, you need to have an accurate diagnosis in your hands to know that the pain is caused by the heel spur, and not complications of diabetes mellitus or any other pathology, the treatment of which can be quite the opposite. An accurate diagnosis will help not to harm yourself, resorting to folk methods of treatment.
But let us return to the relatively safe in our opinion methods of treating the heel spur, the causes of which are most often caused by our short-sightedness.
Dry heat and massage
One of the simplest and most pleasant methods of treatment of plantar facies and the heel spur caused by it is the heating of a sore spot in hot sand. In the summer, such treatment can be carried out on the seashore or at least on the beach, the surface of which is covered with sea or river sand. The sun's rays themselves will heat the sand, and it will only be necessary to immerse the feet in it.
Sand can also be used in room conditions, having made its stock in advance and heating in the oven until the temperature is needed, so that the legs can tolerate calmly. Such warming significantly reduces pain and helps to defeat the inflammatory process.
The second option for dry heat treatment is the use of a large salt heated in a frying pan or in an oven. On a hot salt it is necessary to put feet daily, after which it is desirable to go to bed. Such procedures significantly ease the morning ascent and reduce the intensity of pain throughout the day.
It is possible to make salt treatment more effective, if you do not just put your feet on it, but also walk around the small hot crystals for a quarter of an hour. The feet must necessarily be naked, and the salt hot, but one that does not cause a burn. Many are missing a couple of such procedures to forget about the illness for a long time.
The third option also combines thermal procedures and light massage. For him, use small boiled potatoes in a peel with the addition of a large amount of salt. It will take 2-3 kg of small potatoes. After boiling, water is poured from it, slightly cooled to an acceptable temperature (what kind of legs can bear), and poured into the pelvis. Sitting on a stool, we begin to actively mix the potatoes with our feet while it is hot. At the end of the procedure, the sole and feet are wiped with a damp cloth and then with a dry cloth and apply a net of iodine to the heel area. If you repeat the procedure daily, within a week the symptoms of the illness should go away.
To massage the heels with a heel spur you can use a washing board with a wavy metal surface. On it 2 times a day for 10-15 minutes, you must actively rub the sole with emphasis on the back of the foot. Such treatment will be useful after a strong pain syndrome abates. Otherwise, you can only aggravate the situation.
Another version of the massage is the rolling of a rolling pin with heels. The procedure is spent in your free time.
Other heating procedures
Saline solution. Quite good reviews about the treatment of spur with the help of salt trays. For their preparation we take 0.5 kg of any salt and 2.5 liters of boiling water. Brine the boil until the salt dissolves and cool to the temperature that our feet can endure. We lower the feet into the brine and soak them until the water cools. The course of treatment requires 10 daily procedures. The prepared brine can be used repeatedly in the heated form.
Soda and salt. For 2 liters of hot water we take 2 tablespoons. Soda and salt. Ingredients and stir in it legs until the solution cools (10-15 minutes). Salt helps fight inflammation, and soda softens the tissues of the soles and facilitates the penetration of salt inside. For the treatment of spurs will need 10-15 procedures.
Salt and iodine. In hot water, make a saline solution and add to it 1 ml of iodine. Keep the feet in the composition until the water cools. The procedure is carried out before bedtime. The course of treatment is 10-14 days.
Soda, potassium permanganate, iodine. For 2 liters of hot water we take 2 tablespoons. Soda, 5-7 drops of iodine, several grains of potassium permanganate. We mix everything thoroughly so that the manganese is completely dissolved. Soar the legs for 10 minutes. The course of treatment is 2 weeks.
Whey. Milk whey in an amount of 3-4 liters is heated to a hot state and we warm the foot with a formed heel spur within 1.5 weeks.
Alcohol. Quite popular recipe, for which you still need a drugstore (vodka does not work as effectively as medical alcohol). Alcohol should be heated to a temperature of approximately 45-50 degrees and put his feet into a quarter of an hour. It is believed that the recipe helps quickly remove the pain syndrome and simultaneously conducts disinfection of inflamed tissues.
Alcohol, vinegar, salt. For 3 liters of hot water, take a bottle (100 ml) of medical alcohol, 5 tablespoons. Without a slide of salt, 50 ml of table vinegar. In hot form we soar for 10-15 minutes. The course of treatment is 2 weeks.
Herbal collection. It will be useful to stew the legs in a decoction of medicinal herbs. For collection we take equal parts of chamomile flowers, burdock leaves, nettle and wormwood, ground part of the mallow forest. For 2 liters of water, take 2 tablespoons. With a hill of chopped herbs. Boil the composition on a small fire for a quarter of an hour, remove from heat, cool it to a hot state and soak your feet daily for 15 minutes a day. The course of treatment is about one month.
Jerusalem artichoke. You can also soar your feet with a calcaneal spur in the Jerusalem artichoke decoction.
Compresses from the heel spurs
Garlic. A few cloves of garlic grate on a fine grater, put a slurry on the heel, covered with a plastic wrap, and bandage. The compress should be kept at least 2.5-3 hours. If the skin on the sole is tender, the garlic will begin to burn heavily. In this case, we remove it, wipe the skin with a damp cloth and apply a soothing cream.
Garlic and chalk. For the sensitive skin of the legs, the recipe is more suitable, in which garlic is taken not in pure form, but in a mixture with crushed chalk (1: 1). On top of the compress is recommended wrap.
Salt and honey. For the compress, the components must be taken in equal parts. Preference is given to sea salt, which is rich in iodine, or iodized. The composition is applied to the aching heel in the evening and held until the morning, after which the skin is washed with clean warm water.
Cabbage and honey. Another popular recipe used for inflammation and pain in the joints, as well as for treating the heel spur, regardless of the cause of its occurrence. We take a small leaf of cabbage and grease it with natural honey. We put the sheet on the heel and fix it with bandage. We do the procedure for the night, and in the morning we wash the foot with water.
Propolis. A piece of propolis softens and hands form a thin flat cake in the shape and size of the heel. Apply propolis on the leg from the evening, wearing a dense simple toe on top. In the morning the compress is cleaned.
Mummy and honey. We buy a mummy in tablets. For 100 grams of natural honey we take 25 tablets, which must first be crushed into powder. The composition is heated in a water bath and applied to the heel in a hot form, covering with cellophane and fixing with a bandage. The procedure is done overnight for 10 days.
Ammonia alcohol and oil. Mix 1 tsp. Ammonia with 1 tbsp. Home unrefined lean oil, shake thoroughly the resulting composition. After the reaction, the mixture will look like sour cream. We spread the composition on a gauze folded in several layers or a cotton swab, put it on the heel, top it with cellophane and put on a tight sock. If it bites heavily, you need to remove and wash the skin. If tolerable, leave the compound for the night.
Radish black. Root the ground with a grater, shift the gruel to the gauze and apply to the diseased heel, covering with a piece of cellophane and fixing the structure with bandage. It is more convenient to carry out the procedure at night.
Potatoes and kerosene. Potatoes in a uniformed pot, add 1 tsp. Kerosene and put the composition on the gauze or piece of cellophane. The composition fixes on the leg with a bandage, and from above we put on the sock. The course of treatment is 10-12 procedures.
Nettle. Leaves and shoots of young nettles are ground in a meat grinder and applied to the heel area as a compress for the night (if possible, it is better to leave it for a day). Treatment continues for a month.
Spores. This popular fresh grass needs to be ground and poured into the sock. Change when the plant dries.
Lilac. Fragrant flowers fill the jar to the top and fill it with alcohol. We insist 2 weeks. Make compresses with tincture for the night.
Petushki. These beautiful flowers, called iris, tangent or cocks, can be found in many yards and manors. But in fact this beautiful plant is capable not only to please the eye, but also to heal the heel spur. For medicinal purposes, the root of the plant is used, which must be passed through a meat grinder and poured with alcohol for 2 weeks, putting it in a dark place, after which the medicine can be used for its intended purpose. For 250 g of alcohol or vodka, take 250 g of crushed root. With a ready tincture, we moisten the wadded disk and put it on the heel, covering it with cellophane and attaching it with a bandage. We make a compress for the night, we clean it in the morning.
In some sources it is recommended to alternate such compresses with vaseline. The course of treatment will be 3 weeks.
Raw potatoes. Kashitsa shredded raw potatoes slightly squeezed and put on the heel area, covering with a plastic wrap. Compress is superimposed on a day. The course of treatment is not less than 8 procedures. With severe pain, the recipe is applied for a month.
Aspirin and honey. Mix 2 powdered acetylsalicylic acid tablets and 1 ampoule (1 ml) of iodine. Composition by a thin layer we put on heels, we cover with a film and we put on dense socks. We do the procedure for the night once a week. The course of treatment - 2 procedures.
Turpentine. The patient's leg can be lubricated with turpentine oil for the night (turpentine oil). Next, put two socks on it: first simple, then woolen. The course of treatment is 2 weeks, then we make a break of the same duration and repeat the treatment.
Other treatments
Cakes from the healing dough. There are two interesting recipes for such tortillas, which are used as a compress:
- Flour, turpentine, sunflower oil. We take the oils in equal proportions, and the flour is enough to make an elastic dough. From the dough roll small cakes to the size of the heel and put them on the sore spot for the night, covering the top with cellophane and putting on a woolen sock. The course of treatment is 5 days.
- Flour, honey. We prepare the elastic dough from two components and apply it in the form of a flat cake on the heel area, as in the previous recipe, covering with cellophane and putting on the toe. The course of treatment - 10 procedures.
- Black bread loaf, honey. We put honey on top of a piece of bread and put it on a sick heel for the night. From above you can put a plastic bag and a sock on your leg. Such treatment is effective at the first pain symptoms.
Medical bile. This healing substance for the treatment of the heel spur, regardless of the cause of the build-up can be used according to different recipes:
- The easiest way is to do appliqués on the heel with clean bile for several weeks, moistening a tampon or a bandage in a few layers in a medicine and applying it on the heel area for the night. On top of the compress can be covered with cotton wool and wax paper, but not with a film (there must be air access so that there is no burn). Over put on a simple sock.
- In the second recipe, the action of bile is enhanced with red pepper. 6 pods of red pepper are poured into 100 ml of medical bile and 300 ml of camphor alcohol. Insist the composition in a dark place for at least two weeks. In the finished medicine, a tampon is moistened and applied to the heel area. The duration of the application is no more than 20 minutes. The course of treatment can vary from 2 to 4 weeks.
- This recipe is able to remove pain during the first 2 procedures. For 80 g of medical bile take 40 g of alcohol (you can replace it with vodka) and 10 g of grinded laundry soap. The composition is well kneaded, we put on the heel, we cover with cotton wool and fix it with the toe.
Here is another popular recipe for pain in joints and heel spurs based on eggs, vinegar and fat. This recipe causes a lot of controversy around itself, but according to reviews, it is quite effective and has already helped many people.
To prepare a healing ointment, we need a fresh (preferably homemade) egg, acetic essence (in some sources it is recommended to replace it with 9% vinegar, but there is an opinion that it can not work with it), 200 g of any fat (smalets, melted unsalted fat, creamy oil, greasy cream). First we wash the washed dry egg into an empty glass, then add the vinegar essence (it should cover the egg) to it and leave the compound for several days until the egg shell dissolves completely. The egg will be held only by the inner film.
Now carefully remove the egg and transfer it to another bowl. We remove the inner shell (it must be discarded). Now in the warmth we soften the butter or fat (the cream does not need to be warmed) and mix it with the egg. Beat the mix with a mixer or blender. It turns out a remedy reminiscent of ointment.
This ointment can be applied to the heels at night, covering them with a cotton pad or folded bandage and putting on socks. The pains go away after several procedures.
If the previous recipe uses the remaining vinegar essence in the glass, the ointment can be applied to the skin for no more than 1-2 hours. This does not exclude the burn of the tissues of the heel, after which the skin on it will peel off.
Many people consider this recipe to be very effective, but there are also many reviews where people complain of burns (the pain from the spur in the heel leaves, only a new one appears from the burn). So before applying such a recipe on a large area, it is better to try to apply the composition on a small patch of skin in the knee or heel area.
In principle, the same can be said for the other recipes given here. Caution is never a problem if the recipes used substances that can cause burns of tissues (alcohol, iodine, bile, acetic essence, vinegar, etc.).
If it is a question of compresses and applications, it is necessary to remember that such procedures will be much more effective if they are carried out after preliminary steaming of the skin in the heel area. So the therapeutic compositions will be able to penetrate deep into the tissues and have their own healing effect there.
As an option, to accelerate the resolution of the calcaneal spur and prevent degenerative processes in the tendon and fascia area, you can drill a special portable device in the pharmacy or online store that safely affects the tissues of the organism with microvibrations. The device "Vitafon", which, among other things, is also used to treat the heel spur, unlike medical, surgical or folk treatment, helps almost all patients with a similar problem. The only thing, depending on the severity of the situation, may be a different number of procedures.
Even if the problem of plantar fasciitis and the formation of the calcaneal spur becomes irrelevant, the device can be used to treat arthritis and arthrosis, hernia of vertebral discs, enuresis, osteochondrosis, gout and improvement in many other diseases.
Any selected recipes are designed for a certain course of treatment. The possibilities of using any of the methods of treating spurs with folk remedies, as well as the number of procedures are recommended to specify with the doctor. This will help prevent the complication of existing diseases, because some components of medicinal compounds can cause allergic reactions (for example, honey) or have a negative effect on the thyroid (this applies mainly to recipes with the addition of iodine). The recommended course of treatment by a doctor is to go through to the end otherwise it is not necessary to count on a stable result.
Treating the calcaneal spur at home involves fulfilling all the same requirements that are required in addition to drug therapy. That is, traditional medicine does not relieve us of the need to adjust our weight, to review the diet, to save the sick leg from stress, to wear orthopedic insoles or shoes, to use orthoses during a night's sleep, etc.
After the inflammation and pain subsides to prevent recurrences of plantar fasciitis, which can lead to the appearance of new growths on the heel, it is useful to practice therapeutic gymnastics. LFK exercises, which can be safely done at home, will help make the plantar fascia stronger and more elastic, which will prevent their rupture during exercise.
First we do a couple of exercises to warm up the muscles in the ankle and shin area associated with the Achilles tendon.
- We stand face to the wall and rest our hands on it. We place the feet feet one by one so that they are on the same line. We put the foot with the spur on the heel behind the healthy one. Slowly crouch, until we begin to experience a strong muscle tension in the lower leg of the diseased leg. We remain in this position for 15-20 seconds, after which we get up. Repeat 2-3 times.
If the spurs appeared on both legs, the position of the feet is regularly changed.
- We stand face to the wall, under the feet put a stand (bar or a thick book with a thickness of at least 5 cm). We stand on the stand with our feet so that the heels remain in the air. Lean to the wall, until there is a strong tension in the shin and ankle. Now we start to rise on socks and fall, repeating the exercise 15 times.
Next are the exercises of physiotherapy exercises, which can be done only after a preliminary warm-up:
- The exercise consists in digging through the foot of a cylindrical or circular object. It is carried out in the sitting position. As a massager, you can use a tennis ball, a plastic water bottle, a kitchen scoop or other items of suitable shape.
- This exercise is also performed in the sitting position, but now the objects should not be rolled, but collected with the fingers. You need to take small items (coins, buttons, beads, pencils, etc.). It is better if the size of the objects will be different.
- The last exercise can be performed both in the sitting position and standing on the legs. In the sitting position, you can lean forward and grab the foot with your hands in the area of your fingers, pulling it as much as possible (you do not bend your legs). In this position, you need to stay for 15 seconds. In the standing position for pulling the foot, you can use a rope, rope, bandage and other improvised means.
This is a kind of stretching for the plantar fascia, which provides them with elasticity and resistance to stress.
Performing such exercises can regularly prevent relapses of the calcaneal spur. They will be useful for the prevention of disease in those who have never encountered this excruciating disease. The causes of calcaneal spurs are diverse and often it is very difficult to exclude them, so you can not be sure that the disease completely overlooks you. But you can make it so that the probability of its development will be minimal.
How to achieve lasting results of treatment?
It should be understood that, despite the many different traditional and folk methods of treating the heel spur, sometimes one has to try more than one treatment regimen to achieve good results. Someone needs a couple of procedures not the most effective people's treatment so that pain and suffering do not remind themselves of themselves for decades, while others try different methods and means, but the disease does not hasten to retreat or the remission does not last long.
One of the reasons for the lack of persistent positive results is the unreliability of the diagnosis. Often, patients themselves decide that they have a heel spur and begin to treat it with different methods. Such treatment at best will not give permanent relief of the condition. But we can not exclude the fact that it can so badly harm a person, only aggravating the existing pathology. To treat a calcaneal spur, it is worthwhile to proceed only after the final verdict of a specialist is on hand.
Another reason why the treatment does not give the desired effect, is the cessation of procedures immediately after the disappearance of pain in the heel. Not passing the full course of treatment can not achieve a lasting result.
And, finally, treatment treatment, but without changing the way of life and its attitude to nutrition and motor activity, it is hardly necessary to expect a good effect. And this new way of life should be fixed by a person forever. He will have to pay more attention to his health and the prevention of diseases of the musculoskeletal system and other body systems.
Prevention of relapses of the calcaneal spur includes:
- Wearing comfortable shoes with a heel, whose height is not more than 4 cm, the use of orthopedic insoles.
- Implementation of exercises aimed at preventing flat feet.
- Regular examinations in the endocrinologist and gynecologist (for women), in time to identify violations in the endocrine system, hormonal failures, etc.
- Avoiding hypodynamia. Active lifestyle means daily walks, moderate exercise, sports (not professionally).
- Taking measures that will help to avoid injuries to the lower extremities and the spine, limiting the loads on them.
- Control diet and eating behavior: limiting the calorie content of food, the introduction of a large number of vegetables and fruits in the diet, limiting the size of portions, etc. If necessary, weight loss: moderate exercise, plus diet.
On the recommendation of the doctor, regardless of the cause of the calcaneal spur in the past, the patient will be offered passage of supportive massage courses, exercise therapy, physiotherapeutic procedures, whose action is aimed at preventing recurrence of the disease. It is in the patient's interest not to ignore such recommendations if he does not want to relive agonizing pain in the heel due to the formation of bone build-up and the inflammation of the tissues caused by it.